


Happiest of Birthdays, Elsa!

by liairene



Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [10]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22486633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liairene/pseuds/liairene
Summary: Will Darcy has never had a fiancee before, but he's pretty sure that knows how to celebrate his fiancee's birthday.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/908481
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Happiest of Birthdays, Elsa!

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to get this posted in time for Elsa's birthday on January 28, but alas life intervened. Here is Elsa's birthday story at last.

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

Will, I need to talk to you.

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

Will, this is important.

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

Seriously, reply to me.

* * *

“Hey, Nora, do you know why your sister keeps texting me?”

The Highbury Public Library’s children’s librarian set her lunch down with a sigh. “Marianne is texting you?”

“She’s sent me three messages over the past hour.”

“Have you replied to her?”

“No.”

Nora took advantage of the privacy allowed by the phone call to roll her eyes. “Well, I don’t know what she wants. If you want to know, you need to ask her.”

Will sighed. “I just don’t want to get into it with your sister.”

“She probably just wants financial advice or something. You ARE her accountant, Will.”

“She could call my work number.”

“I’m not a mind-reader. Just ask my sister what she wants.”

“Can you do it?”

She sighed. “William, call my sister. Good-bye.”

* * *

Will Darcy

Monday, Jan. 20

What do you need?

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

Next Tuesday is Elsa’s birthday.

* * *

Will Darcy

Monday, Jan. 20

I know.

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

What are you going to do about it?

* * *

Will Darcy

Monday, Jan. 20

None of your business

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

You should throw a party.

* * *

Will Darcy

Monday, Jan. 20

I’ll plan my own fiancée’s birthday party.

* * *

Marianne Dashwood

Monday, Jan. 20

Just so long as you ACTUALLY throw her a party.

* * *

Will Darcy

Monday, Jan. 20

I’ll celebrate Elsa’s birthday the way SHE wants.

* * *

As he did most days, Will worked until six, and then he went over to Elsa’s apartment. “Marianne has been texting me all afternoon,” he told her after kissing her.

“Should I be concerned?”

He took off his coat and put it in her closet. “She realized that your birthday is a week away, and she wants to know what I’m going to do about it.”

Elsa spun around and smiled at him. “And what are you going to do about my birthday?”

“Oh, you know,” he replied with a sly smile. “I was thinking that I could come over after work like I do every Tuesday. We could have dinner together. I’ll give you some presents. Maybe there will be some cake.”

“Who is going to make this dinner?”

“I suppose that you’d want me to make it.”

Elsa closed her eyes and shook her head. “William, I love you, but you are a cheeky piece of work sometimes.”

He bit his lip. “Are you saying that I have to make dinner for you?”

“Let me put it to you this way. I am not making my own birthday dinner, and I’m decidedly NOT making my own birthday cake.”

“Elsa, I’m not making a woman who bake circles around me a cake. I’d be embarrassed, and you wouldn’t want to eat any cake that I ever made.”

“Can you make any desserts?”

“I can buy ice cream.”

“Francis William Darcy, you are hopeless.”

“And yet you love me.”

“You can cook countless things, but you can’t bake.”

Will leaned back against the counter. “I’ve never really felt the need to learn.”

“Should I make my own cake?”

“No, please don’t. I’ll figure it out, Elsa. You are not going to make your own birthday cake.” He wrapped his arms around her.

“Do you promise?” she asked as she toyed with his collar.

“I promise you that you will not have to make your own birthday cake. I’m a smart and capable man. I can solve this problem by myself,” he replied before kissing her.

Elsa smiled as they pulled apart. “Just don’t ask Annie for help.”

“Why not?” he pouted.

“Because that, William, is cheating.”

* * *

“Nora, I need your help.” Will slid his long body into a teal wingback chair near one of the Knit Wit’s windows the next day.

Nora smiled. “What did my sister want?”

“She wants me to remember my fiancée’s birthday.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “Are you known for forgetting it?”

“Well, I’ve never had a fiancée before, so I can’t speak to that. But I’ve never forgotten Elsa’s birthday before.”

“But she wants you to make a fuss out of it.”

“Yes, but I don’t know why.”

Nora smiled. “It’s not about you or Elsa.”

“What’s it about?”

Annie came to their table just then and put a tray with a bowl of soup and a salad in front of Nora. “Will, your food will be just another minute.”

He smiled. “Thanks. Now, Nora, what’s Marianne’s deal?”

“She likes birthdays. She likes parties. She likes cake.”

“I can’t make a cake.”

“You could buy one?”

He shook his head. “You know Elsa. She hates grocery store frosting, and there’s no way I could have one made here because she bakes all of the special order cakes here.”

“You could go into Mansfield and get one made at the bakery there.”

Annie returned with Will’s lunch. “Bad idea.”

“Then what is a good idea?”

“Get someone to teach you how to make a cake.”

“Who do I know who can help me? Apparently asking you to help is cheating.”

Annie snorted. “I can’t make cakes anyway. I’m _really_ not good at them.”

“So who is good at cakes?”

“This one,” Annie replied jerking her thumb at Nora.

“You’re good at making cakes?” Will asked. “I’ve known you for more than ten years. How do I not know that?”

Nora shrugged, her light brown hair bobbing slightly in its bun. “I guess you’ve never needed to know that.”

“She’s a really good baker,” Annie continued. “If you need to make a cake, she’s your girl.”

“So am I just making a cake or am I throwing a party?”

“Do you think that Elsa wants a party?” Annie queried.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Tuesdays are long days for her. But we don’t have to do it on her birthday. I don’t know.”

“Well, don’t let my sister push you into anything. She probably just wants you to throw a party so that she can invite Grant Willoughby to the party.”

Annie gagged. “Uh no. She already tried to convince Elsa and me to throw you a birthday party last month so she could bring him along.”

“Like I said,” Nora affirmed. “Don’t let my sister force you into anything. Her crush on Grant is no reason to do something that Elsa wouldn’t want.”

“What if just I have dinner with her on her actual birthday but we do a drinks and cake thing with her at the Green Dragon on Saturday evening?”

“She’s go for that,” Annie replied.

“But tell my sister she can’t bring Grant.”

“If you don’t do that, then she’ll want to bring Grant to my birthday in July and Emma’s in August and so on until the end of time.”

“Maybe she’ll get over him before then?”

Annie shook her head. “You know how your sister is when she has a crush.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “I know. I know. But let’s think of happier matters-like making Elsa a birthday cake. Will, do you want to make her a cake for the little party and then do something different for her actual birthday or do you want to make two cakes?”

“I feel like two cakes is a bit much at this point in my cake baking career.”

“That makes sense,” Nora replied. “If you like, you can make the cake for her actual birthday, and I’ll make the cake for the party.”

* * *

Saturday evening found Will and Elsa at the Green Dragon with a group of their closest friends and a cake made by Nora. “Where’s Marianne?” Nora asked Will.

“Apparently she couldn’t come because Grant didn’t want to come.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, apparently he wanted to go to some bar in Mansfield, and she didn’t want to come to Elsa’s party if Grant wasn’t coming.”

“How does Elsa feel about that?”

Will looked at his fiancée who was across the room talking to her older sister. “I don’t think it bothers her. You know Elsa well. She’s always happiest in the company of her dearest friends.”

“Then she’ll be very happy this evening.”

“I hope so.”

Nora reached up to rest her hand on her tall friend’s shoulder. “Will, look around you. You have everything that Elsa likes in a party here-good food, good drink, and excellent company.”

He smiled. “And no drama, she hates drama.”

“Look around you. Do you see anyone who is likely to cause drama this evening?”

The party assembly consisted of Ed Ferrars, George Knightley, Emma Woodhouse, Nora, Will, Gwen Bennet, Erik Wentworth, Annie Eliot, Oliver and Alice Kingsleigh, Chris Brandon, and Charlie Bing. They were all dear friends of the birthday girl, and none of them were likely to create any sort of scene that would irritate her.

* * *

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Will asked his fiancée as they walked across the street to the apartment Elsa and Annie shared above the Knit Wit.

She looked up at him with a smile. “It was wonderful. Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure, Elsa,” he replied.

“The cake was amazing.”

“Nora is a good baker, which was a surprise to me. How did I never know that she could bake?”

Elsa shrugged. “I guess she didn’t bake much for you guys when you were in college.”

“And you do most of the baking in our friend group these days.”

“I like baking.”

“Even though it’s part of your job?”

She paused to look up at the sky before unlocking her apartment door. “I like baking when it’s for money. I love it when it’s for friends and family. Baking for my friends is a way of showing them how important they are to me.”

“It’s your love language?”

She shrugged as they went into the apartment. “I guess you could say that.”

Will smiled as she shut the door and began taking off her coat. “It’s one of my favorite things about you?”

“Huh?”

“I love how you love baking for other people,” he said as he took off his own coat.

“Oh.” She smiled. “Are you just saying that to get me to bake for you?”

He snorted. “Not at the moment, but in the future, I might.” He paused before continuing. “No, see; that’s not what I’m getting at. Elsa, the thing about you is that you amaze me. You’ve amazed me almost since the first time that I met you. You’re so capable. You’re so talented.”

“What do you want, Darcy?” she said with a smirk.

“Elsa, I’m serious here. One of the things that I love about you is how you bake for a living; it’s part of your job. But it’s a thing that you love and even though it’s your job, you also still find joy in doing it for your friends and family.”

She blushed. “I love baking. It’s where I feel most myself. And I’m glad that my job hasn’t stolen the joy of it from me.”

Will smiled at that, and his fiancée’s blush deepened. Elsa had quickly learned that Will Darcy was not a man of few emotions but rather of closely held emotions. When he smiled, it was more valuable to her because she knew that he truly was happy. One of her fondest memories of her first friendship and later romantic relationship with Will was the first time that she saw his smile first explode over his face all the way to the crinkling skin around his brilliant blue eyes and then seemingly erupt out of his mouth as a gasping laugh because of something that she’d said. She knew in that moment that she wanted to hear that odd laugh again and again and again.

But his smile, the one that said that he was proud of her, was her favorite. Elsa had a doctorate in literature. She was a college professor and part-owner of a successful business. And somehow, Will Darcy didn’t seem to be bothered or intimidated by those things. He seemed to enjoy her passions. Her thesis defense had been a mere four months after they’d started dating, but he’d come to support her. Elsa was relatively sure that Will didn’t either understand or care about the complexities of how Charlotte Lucas represented the relationship between women and the early nineteenth century marriage market in _Pride and Prejudice_ , but the look on his face at the end of her defense, when she was officially named Dr. Elspeth Abigail Bennet, had meant more than almost anything that day.

Will looked at her. “What are you thinking about?”

“You,” she replied with a smile.

“Me? Why are you thinking about me?”

She flopped down on the couch. “I was just thinking about how you’ve made my life better.”

He scooted Lord Peter over a bit before settling himself next to her. “And how have I done that?”

“You’re not afraid of me, Will.” She paused. “You don’t find my PhD or my business intimidating.”

“I find the combination a little crazy sometimes,” he admitted. “You DO have a lot on your plate.”

“When I started my doctorate, Mom told me that no man would ever want to marry me.”

Will snorted. “What did the Great Mary Frances think that you should do with your life?”

She smiled. “She thought that the KW was enough for me.”

“But you disagreed?”

Elsa shrugged. “I only worked there. We hadn’t inherited the KW yet. I wanted to study literature, and I wanted to teach it to others. Mom thought that if I wanted to teach I should stick to high school.”

“Well, I’m glad that you didn’t,” he replied squeezing her fingers. “I only wonder sometimes how you balance everything.”

“Well, thankfully I have a really supportive fiancé and some great friends who help me make sure that I don’t lose my mind.”

“You haven’t lost your mind already?”

She held up her left hand. “Are you sure about this?”

He took her small hand in his long hands and looked thoughtfully at it. “I guess? It’s a nice hand. I wouldn’t want it at the end of my arm but it seems to work for you.”

Elsa snorted. “You know what I mean.”

He smiled. “Am I sure about asking you to marry me? Of course I am.”

“Even if you think that I’m crazy?”

He intertwined his fingers with hers before answering. “Elsa, I had years to get to know you before I asked you to marry me. I know what you are, and I love you for it. Do I always understand you? No. Do I agree with everything that you do? No. But you’re my Elspeth, and I want what’s best for you.”

“Sometimes, William,” she replied as she squeezed his hand. “You’re almost too good to be true.”

“Almost,” he repeated. “I’m a decidedly flawed man. I’m incredibly stubborn.”

“I know. I still love you.”

“And I’m kind of a stick in the mud.”

“I know. You’re an accountant.”

“And I still love you in spite of comments like that.”

* * *

Tuesday morning dawned with snow falling steadily. As Annie and Elsa peered out the window of the shop, the birthday girl leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s on days like this that I’m glad that I don’t have to drive anywhere.”

“You’re walking to campus today?”

“That’s easier than digging out my car and trying to navigate those roads.”

“True.”

“It takes me fifteen minutes to walk to campus. It would take me half an hour to drive there.”

“Bleck,” Annie replied. “This is why I live upstairs from my job.”

“What are you going to do when you and Erik get married?”

“When? He hasn’t proposed yet.”

“But we all know that he’s going to.”

Annie held up a hand. “I know that it’s your birthday, but I’m still going to argue with you. You can’t jinx it. You can’t talk about this kind of stuff until after he proposes.”

“You’ve been together for longer than Will and me.”

“By what? A month?”

“So what? It’s going to happen.”

Annie sighed. “You know our story.”

“Too well.”

“And you know that he’s going to be hesitant about this.”

“I don’t get why. He should have proposed to you two years ago.”

“Well, he didn’t.”

Elsa turned the open sign on as she said, “And I don’t get that.”

“Elsa, you’re not Erik.”

She spoke while heading back to the counter. “Obviously; I don’t look like Thor. I’m not in the running for sexiest professor at Highbury or on the planet.”

“You’re gorgeous.”

“I’m of average height, I could easily stand to lose at least ten pounds, my front tooth is chipped, I have stupid chicken pox scars on my face, and…”

“And Will thinks that you’re gorgeous, which is in the end all that matters.”

Elsa smiled. “I still think…”

“I know what you think, but you can’t change Erik.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t even bother trying, Elspeth.”

Before Elsa could reply, the bell over the door chimed as the man in question strolled into the shop.

“Here for coffee?” his girlfriend asked.

“In desperate need,” he replied before kissing her. “I was at the restaurant until close last night.”

“Why?”

“Chris is out of town for the week, and Mondays are Jane’s day off. So I had to be manager on the floor all day.”

“And you’re doing it again today?”

“I have to make bread.”

Elsa made a face. “Want a shot of espresso in your coffee?”

“Is that a good idea?”

“It’s free.”

He furrowed his brow. “It’s free?”

“Yeah, it’s my birthday special. I’m giving sleep-deprived people free shots of espresso in their coffee. I’m letting out my inner hobbit.”

He laughed. “Well, far be it from me to stop anyone from letting out their inner hobbit. And happy birthday, Elsa; I hope it’s great.”

“Thanks,” she smiled as she prepared his coffee. “I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great year.”

* * *

Will Darcy appeared in the Knit Wit just after eight in the morning-just as he had done pretty much every morning since September of 2010. And per usual, he was followed by George Knightley. “You two don’t even live together anymore,” Annie commented as they walked in. “How do you still arrive together every single day?”

“Talent,” George quipped.

“We’re accountants,” Will stated flatly. “We followed a carefully regimented schedule every single day of our lives.”

“You’re absurd,” Elsa told him as she came out of the kitchen.

“And you love it.”

She put her hands on his shoulders. “Yeah, I don’t think that I’d have you any other way.”

He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. “Happy birthday, darling girl.”

“Thanks, Will.”

“I’m looking forward to this evening.”

“Are you cooking for me?”

He nodded. “That’s the plan. Annie’s going to let me in so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“That sounds amazing,” she replied. “I can’t wait.”

* * *

The rest of Elsa’s day went smoothly enough. She walked out to campus around nine, taught two classes, had lunch with a few friends in between her ten o’clock and her two o’clock, held office hours, and then went back into town. She got back to the Knit Wit around four-thirty and worked until seven. “Okay, birthday girl, you’re free for the evening,” Annie told her. “So get out of here. And have fun with Will.”

* * *

On entering her kitchen, Elsa found Will Darcy standing by the stove with the sleeves of his blue button-down rolled up to his elbows. “Give me one second,” he said without turning around. “I’m up to my elbows in frosting.”

“Frosting?” she repeated.

“I’m making your birthday cake.”

“Did I get a dinner or just a cake?”

He snorted. “Would I leave a lady without a cake on her birthday?”

“Well,” she began dramatically. “You’ve never made me a cake for my birthday before.”

“But I’ve taken you out for dinner. You’ve gotten a dessert.”

“Those were free desserts that you get because it’s your birthday. This is a homemade dessert made for me because you love me.”

“I hope you like it,” he said turning to face her and revealing a pink frosted cake.

“You made me a cake!”

He nodded. “I used a recipe that Nora gave me. There’s raspberry jam between the layers and raspberry juice in the frosting.”

“That’s amazing!”

“I hope it tastes as good as Nora said it would.”

Elsa grinned. “Is it her lemon cake with raspberry jam?”

“It is.”

“I love that cake.”

* * *

Dinner was a salad following by chicken bistilla, and then came the cake. “I’m a bit nervous,” Will said as he put it in front of his fiancée.

“I have faith in you.”

Will sliced the cake and waited for Elsa to take a bite. “What do you think?”

She took a bite, chewed and swallowed. And then she smiled. “William Darcy, you’ve impressed me.”

“You like it?”

“Very much, it’s delicious.”

He smiled. “I’m very happy to hear that.”

“I’ll be expecting you to make this every birthday for the rest of our lives.”

“Do you mean that?”

She nodded with a smile. “I think that I do. And you know what?”

“What?”

“I’m looking forward to spending every birthday for the rest of my life with you.”

“I’m looking forward to that too,” he replied before kissing her.

* * *

The End...for now.


End file.
